


"Posh British Hipster meets Stoner Punk. How original."

by pastelmoony



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Music, Bands AU, M/M, Modern AU, Oops, There's femslash as well, Trans Male Character, all that shit, also lots of smoking, amen, and drinking, how tf do I tag things, not sorry, smoking weed and cigarettes, some violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-16
Updated: 2015-06-16
Packaged: 2018-04-04 19:26:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4149915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pastelmoony/pseuds/pastelmoony
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Remus Lupin, six feet high with hair that's never cut right (because "The hairdressers cut the back too short and I look emo"), calloused fingers, forest eyes and usually a bag of weed in his pocket- "It's not medicinal, Alice."<br/>Sirius Black, with a voice that, as Peter likes to call it, sounds "like Kurt Cobain took too much cough syrup and decided to become an indie vocalist," steel grey eyes like a sheet of metal, the poshest accent around and a copious amount of leather jackets because "It helps my classic rock persona, Marlene."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> AUTHOR'S NOTE!  
> Hi guys! thanks for pausing your busy lives to read my fic here. This is a modern AU where Remus is in a small town punk band known as Auror while Sirius is in a well-known indie band called The Black Sheep. Both bands are scheduled at Bonnaroo Music Festival and.... you'll figure out the rest.

“You’re a total fucking womanizer,” James smirks, sarcasm dripping from his tone as he slides a glass of whiskey towards his best mate. Around them, cigarette smoke wafts through the air and swirls around the dimly lit atmosphere as Sirius Black laughs hoarsely under his breath and catches the glass with one hand.  
“You’re a total fucking dick who won’t shut up when he’s buzzed.” Sirius grins heartily before tilting his head back along with the drink and taking an unnecessarily long sip.  
“Are Pads and Prongsie getting in a little scuffle?” Peter pops in rather suddenly, sliding up a chair beside Sirius and reaching up to ruffle his hair.  
“Oi,” Sirius warns the bloke, swatting at Pettigrew with his free hand. “You know I hate it when you touch my hair, you prat.” Despite the insult, there's a playful affection behind his tone as he intentionally splashes a bit of whiskey on his mate’s blazer.  
Frank clears his throat behind James, sliding his phone into his pocket as he taps the dark haired man’s head. “Don’t forget to be back at the flat by midnight, alright? You all better not be too smashed by the time you get home. We're leaving early for our flight to Anchorage tomorrow” He raises his eyebrows before slipping back into the crowd.  
“Still don’t know why Longbottom booked us for Bonnaroo.” Sirius sighs, leaning back in his seat and slinging an arm around Peter as he does. “All those metal bands…” He shudders dramatically, earning an eye roll from James.  
“Back to the conversation about Sirius Black,” James smirks, leaning forward and setting his barely used cigarette in the ashtray. “Three women? In one night?” James raises his voice to imitate the nasally pitch of Rita Skeeter, the most despised reporter in the business.  
She’s recently taken a keen interest into the (nonexistent) love life of Sirius Black, and her most recent rag story is centred solely on the bassist and lead singer of the indie rock band The Black Sheep; the article goes on about how he apparently decided to sleep with three different groupies in one night.  
One small detail Skeeter didn’t seem to catch: Sirius black is gay.  
So the entirety of Rita Skeeter’s “leads” on Black send him and his mates into howls of laughter every time she releases a new article about him. Sure, they could easily hire some PR manager to clear up the gossip, but Jesus Christ, it's all so hilarious.  
“I swear to God, your pants are tighter than the stick that’s lodged up Frank’s arse.” James comments, and Sirius shrugs with a truthful smirk on his face. “Even a straight girl would’ve figured it out by now, yeah?”  
“Figured what out?” Marlene is joining the group of lads now, a smile gracing her expression.  
“That Sirius was as gay as-” Peter begins, but he stops himself as he earns stone cold glares from both James and Sirius. “Right,” he squeaks out, lowering his head quickly as his pitch went up. He clears his throat with red cheeks, looking back over at Marlene. “You know, the thing. With the… you know.”  
“Ah, yes,” Marlene grins, crossing one leg over the other. “As Peter so eloquently put it, the thing with the... you know.” 

 

“How high are you, Remus?” Dorcas raises one eyebrow as she walks into his room and her nose is assaulted with the pungent smell of marijuana.  
“Like, almost six feet?” The tawny haired guitarist sits back against the wall and laughs airily, closing his eyes as he holds the joint in between his fingers.  
“Jesus Christ, we’re leaving for Bonnaroo in 10 minutes. Are you even fucking packed?” She sighs, hand on her hip as she kicks the door closed behind her.  
“We’re playing at Bonnaroo?” He laughs again, starting to stand up but having to use the wall for support.  
“Yes, you bitch. Please tell me you’re packed.” Dorcas glances around his room almost frantically before her eyes settle on a huge duffle bag and a backpack. “If those bags are filled with weed, you’re dead.” Her threat isn’t empty, but she grabs the bags without another word, slinging them on her back and shoulders and carrying them out to the van where Lily and Alice are waiting impatiently.  
Remus eventually saunters out of his room, stretching and squinting at the sun. Lily’s watch reads 10:58, two minutes before they have to leave. If Lily Evans is anything, it's a punk-ass feminist and absolutely, uncompromisingly punctual.  
“I may be the vocalist for Auror, but I refuse to be late for the biggest music festival we’ve been at yet, okay?” She hisses, causing Remus to cringe and wave his arms in front of her face.  
“Listen, Lil Lils…” He laughs for the millionth time that day as he takes her hand gently and she stares at him with the force of a thousand iron daggers. “We’re not going to be late, it’s all good." Remus reassures her with another one of his fucking marijuana laughs.  
“You’re high, you fuckwad.” With that, Lily pulls him into the van by the arm as Dorcas throws his bags on the top of the car. With Alice in the front seat, they start the car and they're on their way out of Tinley Park.  
The playlist that accompanies the band members on their car ride- eight hours in total- to the location of the festival in Tennessee consists purely of any and every song that Remus decides to play, seeing as he was the only member in possession of- and therefore in charge of- the AUX cord. As he was coming down from his high that morning, he decided to play an interesting medley of songs that left the girls around him groaning in displeasure- or laughing their asses off.  
“Rick Astley? Are you fucking serious?” Lily has difficulty holding in her laughter while Alice taps in annoyance on the worn leather cover of the steering wheel and the first verse of ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ comes blaring through the speakers. “Did Remus Lupin really just fucking rickroll me?” With tightly pursed lips, she makes a sharp left turn and sends an unbuckled, lanky stoner crashing into the side of the door and kicking Lily as he does.  
After they finish cracking up over a very irritated Alice, Remus and Lily decide on playing “Spread Me All Over Illinois” by Real Friends, which seems to calm Alice down significantly as she drives on with a frown. 

 

“Wait, The Black Sheep are playing Bonnaroo this year?” Dorcas laughs, leaning over as Alice helps her tug her muscle tank off to reveal a green bandeau. “That’s bullshit, they’re so indie.” She grabs the top part of her ridiculously curly black hair before stretching and looking up towards the hot sun. Muggy clouds are gathered on the horizon, but the air around them is an unpleasant, humid 95 degrees or so.  
“It’s a primarily indie music festival, Dorcas.” Alice raises an eyebrow.  
“I didn’t know Tennessee was so hot,” Remus mutters under his breath, looking around as other bands in huge tour buses start to pull into the field where the shows at the festival will be played. Meanwhile, Dorcas unzips one of Remus’ bags and steals a stained old t-shirt that reaches her mid thighs when she slides it over her head.  
“Alright, we’re like, 3 hours early.” Lily sighs, sitting down on her suitcase and looking around as if she's scoping the grounds out for someone she can take her internal frustrations out on.  
“I told you we should’ve stayed longer to take pictures with that weird hitchhiker who looked like Johnny Cash.” Alice murmurs with a frown that's been permanently plastered on her fairy-like features ever since they left Tinley Park.

 

Meanwhile, The Black Sheep’s gunmetal black tour bus is pulling into the parking lot the day before the first show begins. James is spooning Peter in one bunk while Sirius is sprawled out completely naked below them, his leg dangling precariously off the edge as his hair tangled and falling across his pillow.  
Their on-top-of-shit manager decides to wake them by blasting Metallica through the speakers, causing James to jolt awake and shove Peter off of the bed.  
“Fuckin- They need raillings on those things!” He groans after his body makes contact with the carpeted floor with a loud and painful-sounding thud.  
James belts along to the chorus of Master of Puppets before Frank unplugs his phone from the speaker rather suddenly.  
“Hey!” The unruly haired bloke pouts. “You killed my jam!” He uses some kind of terribly imitated American dudebro accent, causing Sirius to wake up with an annoyed groan.  
“Who are you buggering-” He sits up, pulling a blanket over his face and conveniently covering his crotch from a very horrified Peter Pettigrew.  
“Don’t come down here, James,” The blonde lad warns his friend, looking up at him. “Sirius is indecent.”  
“Goddamn, Peter,” James mutters, sliding his glasses on and pushing them up the bridge of his nose. “Sirius is always indecent.”  
“Good point, mate.” Sirius’ voice is muffled by the blankets as he turns over and let his arse shine. Peter makes an utterly disgusted face before pulling the curtains back and turning away, clearly horrified.  
“Get up,” Frank says shortly, not bothering to use any insults as he pulls out an air horn instead. As Sirius refuses to move, his manager opts to walk over conspicuously and blow the horn directly into Sirius’ ear. He sits up quickly with a sharp yelp, instinctively trying to smack Frank in the face, but unintentionally hitting Peter’s bum instead.  
“Oi-!” Peter shouts, and chaos ensues. Sirius falls out of his bunk in a tangle of sheets and, still as naked as the day he was born, chases Frank down the short length of the tour bus while the lankier man laughs uncontrollably. Peter watches in horror and James literally crows with laughter, rolling back on his tiny mattress and clutching his stomach.  
“What a great way to start Bonnaroo, am I right?” He looks down at Peter with a poorly masked sparkle of amusement in his eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I was promising an update on Saturday, but it completely slipped my mind. Sorry about that! In this chapter, there's a mildly graphic smut scene between two females, so prepare yourselves.   
> As always, kudos are appreciated and comments are absolutely adored! Have a lovely Father's Day, and I hope you have someone in your life to thank today :)

“No fucking way,” Alice watches with wide eyes as a tall musician walks past them, carrying a mic stand and talking to someone on his phone. “That’s Josh Dun from Twenty One Pilots. He literally just walked past us. What the-”  
“REMUS!” Dorcas hollers, her tone bordering on murderously livid as she flings the van door open and very nearly whacks Lily with it before stepping out with a suspicious looking plastic Ziploc baggie clutched in her hand. “I told you that if you had-”  
“Fucking put that away, you idiot!” Lily hisses, snatching the bag out of Dorcas’ hand with raised eyebrows.   
“I’m pretty sure we’re allowed to have-” Remus begins, but he's cut off by Dorcas reclaiming the bag of weed and smacking him in the cheek with it.  
“Don’t even say it. Just don’t.” She hisses, turning around and shoving back into Remus’ tattered old duffel bag.   
“You all need to get those sticks out of your asses,” Remus shrugs, hopping back into the van and searching around the mountain of luggage in an attempt to find his guitar. After pulling the acoustic’s bulky case out of the van, he sits down on the ground and begins to strum absentmindedly.   
“Are you still high?” Alice scoffs, but she joins him on the grassy patches of the ground. As Lily and Dorcas are probably talking about logical things like where they should go to check in and all that shit, Alice and Remus are singing off-key to First Date by Blink 182.   
“Can you believe Blink’s here this year?” Remus laughs under his breath after they finish, grabbing a bag of potato chips from his guitar case and popping a few into his mouth a time. “What if I meet Tom Delonge? Or Mark Hoppus, or Trav-”  
“You’re a fangirl.” Alice mutters. “I think the only band I actually want to meet is The Black Sheep.” She shrugs shortly, reaching over and stealing one of his chips. “Have you seen the lead singer? He’s pretty attractive. Killer vocals as well.”  
Her words go right over Remus’ head as he leans against the side of the van, picking at the strings of his guitar absentmindedly.   
“Yo, Dorcas is going over to register us.” Lily announces, kicking up one foot as she sits on the chain that connects the van to the little trailer they carry along. Remus doesn't seem to pay attention to her, but Alice gives her a reassuring nod before taking another handful of greasy chips from the huge bag. 

 

"It's.... fucking hot." Sirius mutters, rubbing his arms with his palms vigorously as he steps out into the humidity of the midday air.   
"We're in Tennessee, of course it's going to be hot. Not to mention the fact that we’re from England: The Land of Rain All the Fucking Time." James raises his eyebrows as he follows Sirius out. "It's like, 40 degrees out here." James scoffs, sliding off his jacket. Their bus driver gives him a baffled expression, and he quickly corrects himself. "Sorry, right, you Americans are weird. It's... 100 degrees? Right?" He looks over at Frank, who gives him a curt nod.   
"Anyways," Sirius clears his throat as he looks around the scattered grounds, taking in the variety of buses, vans and trucks that are parked in random areas. "Our show is tomorrow night, yeah?" He looks at Frank, who nods again. Across the fairgrounds, there seems to be a few stages and tents being set up.  
"The Black Sheep's tent is going to be close to the main stage, since you guys are one of the bigger bands playing." Frank announces as Peter appears from the bus behind James, throwing a handful of granola into his mouth.   
"Really? Isn't Blink 180 here? I thought they were way bigger than us." Peter mutters with a mouth full of nuts.   
"It's one eighty-two, you daft-" James starts, his voice clearly irritated.   
"Let's not get each other panties in a twist," Frank interrupts, tapping his clipboard as Peter turns bright red. "We have to keep up a good public image or else-" he lowers his voice, "-Rita Skeeter will write some bullshit article about how you all hate each other."  
"Well, we do." Sirius mutters, casting a smile at James and Peter.   
"Right," Frank mutters shortly with a tone that carries an irritated edge. "The crew is setting up your equipment as we speak. I suggest you walk around, acquaint yourselves with some bands and get to know people while I get us registered, alright?"  
The three blokes nod like schoolchildren as Frank turns on his heel to talk to the stage manager. 

 

Marlene was just washing her hands. She didn't mean to end up fucking a girl in the back stall of the rather dirty fairgrounds' bathrooms.   
It all starts when- well, precisely as she shuts off the water and turns to find a ridiculously attractive girl with curves like an hourglass walking towards the mirror beside her. Needless to say, Marlene's heart jumps into her throat and she finds herself greeting the girl without a second thought. The whole "act before you think" lifestyle is the only one Mar has ever lived by, so she flashes the girl a grin and says "Hi," as she grabs a paper towel to dry her hands. It's a stupid move, but the dark skinned girl a few feet away from Marlene seems to bite on.  
"Afternoon- good day?" The girl lets out a laugh and Marlene tosses the paper towel into the trash before leaning against the wall and looking at her. "Uh- I'm Dorcas."  
Marlene nods at this, another smile appearing on her features. "My pleasure." She murmurs, forgetting to introduce herself as her eyes trail down Dorcas' body with a shamelessly attracted gaze.   
"Do you-" Dorcas starts, but her words stop in her throat as Marlene steps forwards with one eyebrow raised.   
"You're not straight, are you?" Marlene's voice is like a purr.   
"Why- I, uh..." Dorcas stumbles over her own words, a pink blush appearing on her cheeks as she tugged at the bottom of the shirt that belongs to Remus. "I'm- Not really, no." The blonde girl's rough and endearing British accent throws Dorcas off, but Jesus Christ, it is so hot.   
"Good," Marlene chuckles, taking another step towards her so that there's hardly a foot separating them. Dorcas' heart is racing for some stupid reason and the set of piercing gray eyes trail down her body again, but she doesn't feel the need to cover up.   
"What do you mean by-" She begins clumsily, but her pointless question is cut off by the wonderful feeling of Marlene's lips pressed against hers. It's all a bit too much to process at first, but Dorcas quickly responds by hooking one arm around Marlene's neck and the other grabbing at the side of her face. The kiss is almost tentative at first, but it's quickly fueled to tongues and teeth and pure want as Marlene presses against Dorcas and the two of them find themselves on the wall of a handicap designated stall in the back.   
Marlene breaks the lock between their lips to murmur, "Definitely not straight," before pressing their mouths together again with a renewed fervor tugging at the t-shirt on her thighs. She hastily kicks the stall door shut and backs up against it, pulling Dorcas with her and pressing rough kisses along her jaw as the curly haired girl tilts her head to the side and purses her lips to keep herself from letting out a sigh of pleasure.   
"Definitely..." Dorcas breathes out, closing her eyes as Marlene flips the two of them over, pressing them against the door, sliding her shirt off and spreading kisses just below her ear. "Not." Her voice was nearing a moan at this point, so she decided to keep her mouth shut and simply enjoy the feeling of Marlene all over her- hands and lips traveling along her newly exposed skin.   
Marlene's teeth bite down on the side of Dorcas' neck before she has the chance to protest, but she doesn't mind much. She doesn't mind at all, actually. It's really fucking hot.   
"Are you sure we should-?" Dorcas begins, but her breath catches in her throat as one of Marlene's hands grab her ass without hesitation. She doesn't bother finishing her sentence and the other hand is soon snaking over the waistband of her jeans. "Jesus." Dorcas pushes her hips against the feeling of Marlene's cold fingers on her warm skin just above her underwear. She can feel Marlene smirk shamelessly against her collarbones before her lips continue down her chest.   
And suddenly, Dorcas’ spinning mind registers the outstanding feeling of Marlene touching her beyond her underwear- damn it, she should’ve worn panties instead of those dumbass Walmart underwear that Remus bought her for Halloween two years ago, but now it’s too late to stop, and a moan leaves her lips as her grip tightens on Marlene’s hips. The other hand slides up to tangle in the shoulder length, dirty blonde mess of wavy hair.  
The air is filled with Dorcas’ moans and heavy breaths coming from Marlene as her hand moves with a precise, almost expert movements that leave Dorcas seeing stars dance across the backs of her eyelids.  
"I'm-" The dark skinned girl starts, but her voice is quickly silenced by Marlene's pressing kiss that meets her lips. As the fingers swirl in and out of her in patterns, Dorcas can feel herself being tugged closer to the edge, and the fervor in Marlene's kiss grows until their lips are clashing together in a frenzy of unhesitant fire.   
The stars across Dorcas' vision intensify as Marlene moans against her lips, and suddenly she feels the tightness in the pit of her stomach unravel. Her moans are louder as she digs her fingers into the skin beneath Marlene's loose shirt, reaching her high as the fingers inside of her hit deep and pleasuring. Everything seems to freeze for a moment; Dorcas' breath is gone, she's weak against the stall wall and Marlene is trailing her tongue and teeth along the marks she made previously.   
"Oh, my..." She starts, but her voice is quickly trailing off as Marlene pulls her hand away with a satisfied smirk. 

 

"James, I saw this red head by a van earlier..." Later that day, Sirius walks up beside his best friend and clamps a hand on the bloke. "Her friend was staring at me, but I think she might like you if you throw on some of that Potter charm, yeah?"  
James allows a small smile before rolling his eyes and pushing the glasses up the bridge of his nose. "I'm not here to get laid, Sirius." He pauses, looking over at a herd of groupies hovering near the stage. "Although, that would be appreciated…”  
"Where the hell did you come from?" Sirius turns to make a face at Marlene, who replies with an impish grin.   
"I was in the bathroom."  
"For an hour?"   
"Girls get distracted." Marlene ends the dispute at that, smirking while Sirius narrows his eyes.   
"That's why Sirius prefers it-"   
"Peter..." James shut his friend up by patting his head and shushing him softly. 

 

"Alice, she was so fucking- fuck."  
"I know, honey, I know," Alice murmurs, stroking Dorcas' hair as she lays with her head in her lap.   
"And I'm probably never going to see her again."  
"Not with that attitude, you won't," Remus chimes in as he braids Lily's hair with one hand.   
"Yo, shut up. Just because you're too busy for crying over cute people doesn't mean I can't." Dorcas snaps, closing her dark brown eyes and letting out a long sigh.   
"I'm not even sure what happened to our little Dork here." Remus shrugs slightly, finishing Lily's braid and tieing with one of the elastic bands he keeps on his wrist.  
"A British girl fucked her brains out in the bathroom about 15 minutes ago." Alice sighs out, continuing to absentmindedly play with Dorcas' curls. "She's not quite over it yet."  
Dorcas makes a face and closes her eyes instead of bothering to reply to Alice's comment.   
"I didn't even know her name." She mutters, the pout clear on her expression.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone gets punched in the face, a few chance encounters occur, and Remus is left pondering his existence with Alice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AUTHOR'S NOTE!  
> Sorry for slipping on the update! I've been ridiculously busy lately, but I hope that this chapter makes up for my lack of writing. I'm working on chapter four as we speak, and I like where it going. Anyways, this chapter briefly describes some symptoms of a mild anxiety attack, as well as a little bit of violence (not in detail)

"Are you ready?"  
"No."  
"I said, ARE YOU READY?"  
"I'M NOT FUCKING READY!"  
"He's probably high again, Lil." Alice chimes in, sauntering over to Remus, throwing her arms around him and taking a long breath in through her nose. "Definitely weed." She murmurs in conclusion.   
"Three minutes before our opening show? Seriously?" Lily narrows her eyes and gives him a slap on the cheek that lacks any trace of affection.   
"I'm not surprised," Dorcas murmurs, attaching the worn, red strap to her guitar. Past the canvas that separates the shitty outdoor stage from the slowly gathering crowd, they can hear people chatter about the upcoming bands. It's rather early in the morning, the first day of Warped Tour; Remus Lupin is high as fuck, Dorcas Meadowes is still internally crying over what came to be known as "The British Bitch Bathroom Bash," Alice is slightly high from being around Remus and Lily Evans is probably about to punch someone.   
As Auror walks out on stage, the crowd falls quiet before breaking into cheers and applause. Remus feels that familiar rush of adrenaline- no, wait, it's the weed. Dorcas gives a little wave, Lily flips the crowd off and Alice lifts her hands in the air before nearly tripping over her monitor. From the side of the stage, the crew manager visibly winces and Alice mouths an apology before looking back at the crowd and sliding behind the drum set.   
"First day of Bonnarooo!" Lily is practically shouting into the microphone, which earns raucous shouting from the crowd that is clearly hyped on too many Red Bulls. "Who's ready to fu-"  
"FUN. Who's ready to... fun?" Remus interjects and earns a murderous glance from Lily after cutting her off, and a few people in the audience laugh.   
"Remus is high right now." She says shortly, just before Alice clicks off their opening song. 

 

"They're all so.... loud." Peter groans, shoving a pillow over his face as he lays across the tiny couch.   
"It's a music festival, get over it." Sirius mutters, sipping from a can of Mountain Dew with a bitter expression.   
"What's got you so buggered?" Marlene asks as she leans back in her rolling chair and places her feet on Peter's lap.   
"Dark Mark is playing right before us tomorrow." The dark haired bloke tosses his soda to the side, nearly missing the trash can but making it in after it bounces off of the rim. "Can you believe it? When I see Frank, I'm going to-"  
"Chill," Marlene mutters, raising her eyebrows at him. "I know your prick of a little brother is in that band, but you don't need to throw a hissy fit."  
"I'm Sirius Black. Of course I need to throw a fuckin' hissy fit."  
The moody bloke is hit in the face with a sock from James, and Peter breaks into laughter. 

 

"Dude! Dude! That was so fucking awesome!" Lily is practically buzzing with energy as Auror makes their way off stage with roaring applause following them.   
Dorcas leans against the ridiculously tall Remus, letting out a sigh. Shows always drain her, and this tour would clearly be no exception. It's the first show of the summer and she's already tired.   
Nonetheless, the energy from Alice and Lily seems to rub off on their bandmates as they make their way back to the van for lunch.   
"I'm so fucking ready to fight someone right now. I just want to fucking FIGHT someone!"  
Unfortunate timing comes into play; as the group is walking along and Lily has her fists up as if she's in the ring with a professional boxer, two dudes are walking the opposite direction and the shorter one brushes against the ferocious redhead.   
Lily has instincts. They don't always serve her well. The poor guy who ran into her ends up exclaiming profanity in pain and falling back onto his friend, grabbing his eye socket that had just come in contact with a certain Lily Evan's fist.   
"Jesus fucking Christ!" The man shouts as his friend covers his mouth to conceal his laughter.   
"Good thing you're not wearing your glasses, mate." The friend with the longer hair grabs his friends shoulders as Lily is restrained by both Alice and Remus.   
"Why'd you bump into me? You tryna fight me?" Lily is jumping against two long sets of arms, her own limbs flailing as she looks at the messy haired dude she just punched.   
After a moment, she calms down and leans against Remus, who laughs a bit.   
"Oh my God, you're those dudes from the Black Sheep!" Dorcas is the first to point this out while Alice is busy verbally calming Lily, but then every eye is on James Potter and Sirius Black- Particularly Alice, whose mouth is hanging open as she stares right at Sirius.   
"Er, yeah-" James starts, still standing close to Sirius as he runs a hand through his untidy raven black hair.   
"We could press charges." Sirius threatens suddenly. His words only seem to fire Lily up again, and Remus has to continue to hold her back with his long arms. Of course, he's only joking, but apparently Feisty Redhead doesn't have much tolerance for foolish humor in her angrier moments.   
"Dude, listen," Remus says after pushing the very short Lily behind him. "It was an accident, Lily is way too fuckin' pumped after our first set. Sorry about your black eye, man. I could give you some weed to make up for it-"  
"I was joking, mate." Sirius chuckles, his British accent very obvious as James holds back laughter and Alice continues to stare with wide eyes. "But weed? You have marijuana? At a music festival"  
“You act like it’s unusual, dude.” Remus laughs and nods proudly as Lily moves forward to hit his shoulder.   
"Don't offer random people your grass, Rem." She hisses as James continues to cover his eyes and almost cower away from the redhead.   
"It's all right, we won't tell." Sirius has an easy charm to his voice as he takes a moment to admire the lanky bloke holding the red haired girl back.   
Remus notices the eyes on him, but doesn't make a comment on it as he nudges Lily forward again.  
"Er, sorry for... punching you." Her voice is flat and anything but genuine as she tries to apologize, but James is a bit too busy staring at her with one eye like a stag caught in the headlights.   
"Uh... S'alright," he manages out.   
Sirius clears his throat to cover his mate's awkward stuttering, clapping him on the shoulder and flashing the other group a photo shoot grin.   
"Right then," He murmurs, taking a step to the side. "We'll be seeing you around, then?" Sirius asks the question to the entire group, but his eyes are fixed on the tall, tawny haired bloke, who's looking over at James with a look of slight pity. He pauses for a moment, taking time to simply admire him. His limbs are lanky, but not to the point where he's gangly in an unattractive sense- more like a gentle giant, the kind of lad who can wrap you up in a hug and completely envelope you. The sandy hair that frames his face and that ridiculous jawline is messy and unevenly cut in some places, obviously not professionally done. It adds a gentle quirkiness to his otherwise tired eyes that hold just a spark of mischief. Speaking of his eyes, Jesus Christ, they're the same shade of rich wood that you'd expect to find on a tree in a forest, with flecks of lighter amber and captivatingly subtle hints of pale green.   
Sirius was blatantly staring at this point, but he could hardly care. Goddamn, was he gay. Suddenly, the quick comment of the curvy, dark haired girl pulled him away from his ridiculously homosexual thoughts.   
"We're Auror." Alice says quickly, apparently snapping out of her strange Sirius Black induced trance. It wasn't that she has a crush on him- hell no, she just feels a bit star-struck. In her head, Auror is still a tiny opening act from Tinley Park, not a band playing a real damn show at Bonnaroo. But as she's gawking at the tall man with her jaw dropping to the ground, she notices his eyes glued to none other than Remus. A blush crosses her cheeks and she stifles a laugh at the thought.   
"Heard you lot playing. You sounded great." Sirius glances over at the girl with the fairy-like face for a moment as he answers her, but his eyes quickly find their way back to that damned stoner bloke before he even realizes it. The man comes to his senses and his face heats up a bit as Remus meets his eyes and furrows one eyebrow with the other cocked higher. "We've got to get going, actually- our manager... needs us... for..... a thing...." He stumbles over his words and places a hand at the back of his neck.   
"Er- see you around, then." Remus gives a little, half-hearted wave as Sirius physically pulls James away from staring at Lily.   
"That was awkward, to say the least." Sirius murmurs to himself as they're out of earshot. Beside him, James nods and pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose.   
"Right." He breathes out, shaking his head. "Awkward. And unnecessarily painful."  
"Hey, on the bright side, if that turns into a black eye, you'll look Super Punk. Chicks love the angry emo aesthetic."  
James pushes his shoulder with one hand. 

 

"Damn, he was totally staring at you."  
"It's not like he's gay. Skeeter's said he's a total womanizer who's with a different chick, like, every other night."  
"You can't trust Rita Skeeter, Dorcas. She's a bitch." Alice's tone is tired and almost sharp as the three of them sit in the van that night. They previously decided to park near the main stage where the bigger bands were playing, and some dumbass screamo band is blasting as Auror continues on their conversation about the events that transpired earlier.   
"True."  
Remus is lazily drinking from a can of Bud Light along with Alice beside him while Lily has a bandana over her eyes and is clearly trying to sleep. The rest of the band is fully awake and attempting to talk in low tones, which is proving to be difficult for them.   
"Even if he was lusting after my fine ass, I don't have time for relationships." Remus sets the can down in the cup holder beside him and stretches out, which causes Lily to shift and mutter curses under her breath. "I don't know." He adds after a moment, placing his hands behind his head. "Sirius- That's his name, right? He's attractive, I guess, but... Eh." A small shrug follows this as Remus closed his eyes.   
"They're playing tomorrow night." Alice says after a brief pause. "I know we were planning to leave tomorrow, but maybe we could go and see them...?" She phrases it like a question and Remus gives a halfhearted shrug.   
"You just want to gawk at Sirius." Dorcas murmurs as a smirk appears on her face.   
Alice scoffs, but turns away and flips Dorcas off. 

 

"I had everything packed, and you're just now telling me that we're going to stay another three hours to watch the dude I punched in the face?" Lily's voice is, needless to say, beyond irritated as she crosses her arms and taps her foot in a sporadic rhythm. "No. I'm driving back home and none of you are coming with me."   
"Right, you'd totally do that." Alice counters sarcastically, raising an eyebrow and biting her pretzel. Despite the ridiculously hot weather, she's wearing all black. Around them, festival goers wander in brightly colored attire, chattering about their favorite bands while the punk band huddles around their beat van.   
"I think Alice really just wants to stay so she can try to seduce Sirius Black." Remus murmurs, reaching over for a piece of Alice's pretzel.   
She hisses and quickly smacks his hand away. "I'm telling you, I don't have some weird crush on him. I really don't. Shut your ass, Lupin."   
Remus simply smirks and shrugs with one shoulder. "I'm going to go get my own pretzel. So fuck you, Alice." He leans over, bends down slightly and kisses her cheek before prancing away.   
"He's like a fucking antelope." Dorcas murmurs, inspecting her cuticles with a poorly hidden smile on her face.   
((THIS PART HAS A DESCRIPTION OF MILD ANXIETY SYMPTOMS IN CASE ANYONE IS TRIGGERED))  
Meanwhile, Remus is standing in line at the food court and pulling his few dollar bills out of his pocket. There's some rap artist performing on the stage to the left of him, but he's too developed in the smell of fresh dough pretzels to care about the bass vibrating everything within a mile radius. When the line moves forward, Remus is finally able to order a salted pretzel, but as the cashier asks for money, he realizes that he doesn't have quite enough.   
"Shit," Remus mutters, counting the bills again to see if he missed one. "Can I borrow a dollar from someone?" He looks around, but no one makes eye contact with him.   
"I've got you." A voice says behind him.   
Slightly startled, Remus turns around and flashes whoever it is a smile, but his gratitude is hesitant as he recognizes the guy that was staring at him when Lily punched his friend.   
"Er-" Remus stumbles over his words, holding the money tightly in his hand. "Thanks," he murmurs quickly, taking the crisp one dollar bill tentatively and pursing his lips. Sirius is about the same height as him, Remus being an inch or two taller, but he avoids eye contact as he briefly turns back around to hand the worker the money.   
"I'll pay you back after-" Shit, he'll have to borrow money from Dorcas. Again. "Uh, I don't have extra cash right now." It isn't a lie. "Can I pay you back... after your show tonight?" Stupid Remus, stupid. He's the lead singer of a big ol' indie band, he's not going to have time to meet up with a stoner after his show to take back a dollar.   
"Don't worry about it." Sirius reassures him as Remus steps to the side and pulls at the hairs at the nape of his neck. Some sweat has gathered there- funny, he' been in the shade all day, and it isn't that hot at the festival. He breathes out and manages a slight smile, feeling the anxiety well up in his stomach.   
"Thanks again," Remus says quickly. His head turns away from Sirius quickly, almost involuntarily, and he swallows back the dryness in his throat after shoving his slick palms into his pockets. The change is dropped in and Remus can hear it jingle around over the loud noise of the festival around him.   
"Yeah, of course." Sirius pauses to order a raspberry lemonade before taking a step beside Remus with a slight smile. "Don't worry about it, mate." He clears his throat and shifts his weight from one foot to the other. Remus notices, but doesn't say anything; the moment is already awkwardly uncomfortable enough. The subject is abruptly averted, and Sirius says "I'm nervous about the set tonight, to be honest. Last time I was at a music festival, our drummer almost passed out. He ended up finishing a solo and then having to cool down for an hour afterwards."  
"Oh-" Remus starts, but he's interrupted by one of the workers at the stand calling his name and waving a pretzel in the air. He hurries over and grabs it before returning with a nervous chuckle. "Sorry," he breathes out, looking down at his feet and kicking up a bit of dust. Jesus Christ, Remus. Pull yourself together. This is not the place to have one of your ridiculous meltdowns. "That sounds... Dope." Fuck.   
"Dope?" Sirius laughs and crosses his arms, not in a cynical way, but Remus feels even more closed off than before and that dread returns.   
"Uh, yeah." He forces out a chuckle and silently prays that it doesn't sound as fake as it feels coming out of his dry mouth. "I'll ask my bandmates if they want to come along, and I can give you the money then...?" He trails off into an uneven question and closes his hand around the loose change in his pocket.   
"Like I said, don't worry about it, really mate."   
Remus nods shortly, holding the warm pretzel in his hand. He waves a hasty goodbye and swallows again before turning around and squeezing his eyes shut as he walks.   
Idiot. He hisses to himself. 

 

As soon as Remus gets back to the van, Remus gives his pretzel to Lily and slides into the van to roll a joint.   
Alice heaves the heavy van door open and joins him after a few minutes, rolling her own and settled down with her legs tangled up in his.   
"I'm not going to ask what happened unless you want to tell me." She says quietly, taking a deep breath in and letting the smoke drift out in the muggy air of the van.   
Beside her, Remus nods and leans back against Dorcas' duffel bag. Silence hangs between them as they smoke, but it's not uncomfortable. It's the kind of silence shared between only Remus and Alice, and it stays there for a long period of time until Remus' vision is spinning and he's smoked too much for his head to handle.   
The high is all over the place, and he leans forward before falling back again and allowing an airy laugh. Alice follows suit, giggling alongside her friend and lazily throwing an arm across her stomach.   
"I want my pretzel back, damn it."  
Remus' short thought bursts Alice into another fit of giggles, and he laughs too. It's a deep, slow laugh, also known as his "fucking marijuana laugh." He looks over, westwards out of the dirty window of the van to see a vividly orange sunset on the horizon.   
"Alice," Remus murmurs, feeling at ease, just like every time he was high. "Do you think I'm gay?"  
"Do you like dick?" Alice asks, hardly recovered from her previous laughing fit.   
"That's what I was asking."  
"How am I supposed to know? Unless we're, like, telepathetic or something... Cause that would make sense, I think." She furrows her eyebrows and stares up at the stained ceiling of the van.   
"I don't think telepathetic is the word." Remus replies slowly, running a hand through his hair. "But maybe I do like dick. Remember a few years ago, when that dude at the party made out with me? Yeah. I really liked that. That was cool. But, like, I like girls too. Not that much, but... I like them."  
"Bisexual?" Alice murmurs. "Wait, fuck, I'm starving."  
"Yeah, that's why I said I wanted my damn pretzel back." After a moment, Remus turns around and grabs his backpack, searching around in it and successfully pulling out a bag of animal crackers. "Shall we?" He raises an eyebrow and grins foolishly.   
Alice nods in quick compliance and sits up to snatch the bag from him, and the previous topic is quickly forgotten about.


End file.
